The chairs of six Irish universities have made a joint appeal for more government funding, warning that the sector faces an annual shortfall of more than €250m despite increases in state support.
In a joint Business Post article, the chairs, writing in a personal capacity, backed the Irish Universities Association’s (IUA) call to increase annual core funding by €190m in Budget 2027 and again the following year.
The signatories chair the governing bodies of University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, the University of Galway, the University of Limerick, Dublin City University and University College Cork. Maynooth University, the IUA’s seventh member, was not among them.
“Our universities are central to Ireland’s economic success and its democratic resilience, but that success depends on adequate funding,” the IUA said in a statement.
In 2022, the government accepted that higher education was underfunded by €307m a year.
Budget decisions since then have reduced that original gap by more than half, the chairs acknowledged.
But they said rising pay, inflation and enrolments continued to strain core budgets despite new investment in research equipment.
The €190m request was first set out in the IUA’s June pre-budget submission. It sought €190.2m in additional annual core funding for 2027: €131m towards existing shortfalls and €59.2m for expected increases in pay and student numbers.
The chairs’ joint appeal now puts their public backing behind that proposal.
Our universities are central to Ireland’s economic success and its democratic resilience, but that success depends on adequate funding
Irish Universities Association (IUA)
According to the chairs, the seven IUA universities enrolled more than 10,000 additional students between 2022 and 2024, a 7% increase, without a corresponding rise in funding.
They estimate that around 9,000 additional students across the system are unfunded. State funding per student is also about 30% lower in real terms than it was in 2008, they said.
Demand is expected to grow further. Government projections published in June suggest full-time higher education enrolments could rise by as many as 39,000 by 2033/34, an increase of up to 19% from current levels.
The financial pressure is already apparent at the University of Galway, which has forecast a deficit of close to €10m for the coming academic year and is examining a 7% reduction in spending, as per media reports.
Part-time and contract teaching work could be affected, although the university’s budget has yet to be formally approved.
John Doyle, vice-president for research at Dublin City University, referred in a LinkedIn post to reports that a fourth university could enter deficit.
He argued that increases in funding offered little relief if they did not cover government-negotiated pay rises, inflation and the cost of teaching more students.
“Our whole economic model relies on quality graduates, this is a disastrous higher education policy,” Doyle wrote.
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